Henry Williamson joined the 5th London Regiment as a Private in January 1914, and was greatly excited when the order for mobilisation came in August. He was one of many who believed the war would be over by Christmas. Initially exhilarating, he soon found life in the trenches to be almost unendurable as mud and death became part of the daily routine. The Christmas Truce of 1914 - a short moment of peace and civility in the otherwise relentless reality of gunfire and shelling - left a deep impression on him.
